My Father's Past

Before I get into the big part there are.... several things that need to be known about my dad. Michael Ray Iliff. My dad has always been sick. at 16 he was limping and psoriatic arthritis was crippeling his body. By the time I was in 5th grade, he had both of his legs amputated just below the knee. When he was born he didn't have an arch in either of his feet, so the doctors proceeded to put artificial bones in his feet to recreate the arch. The bones started pushing out the bottom of his feet when I was very young. He was diagnosed with type II Diabetes when I was in middle school. By the time he died, he was on about 20 or so perscription drugs about a quarter of which were so strong, they could be sold on the streets of Seattle for about $200 for 1/4 of a pill! One medication he had was so potent we were told not to dump it on the ground and donate it to a local vetrenatian or take it to the pharmacy because it would screw up the water table! Uh, WOAH!Hospitals, yeah don't even get me started. To put it simply, he had been in and out of Olympic Medical Center, Harborview and UW general care and ICU/CCU so much that the nurses knew me by name and had pictures of me. When I was little, the nurses used to play with my sister and I.August of 2008 my aunt pulled my sister and I aside and told us that the previous night, dad's heart had stopped, and that he was okay, but he was put into a medically induced coma and on a ventilator. This happened several more times throughout the following months, and every time it was a little longer than the previous time that it took to recessitate him. The first cause, he had crush syndrome, where his body was collapsing on itself, his lungs were being crushed. The second cause, his body would take in enough oxygen, and he would exhale, but the carbon dioxide wouldnt all be released, and in the body Co2 is a waste, exhaling is the way for the body to get rid of the waste, but it was being built up, he was basically suffocating to death.The doctors told us that when they released him, that meant their was nothing else they could do to help him other than giving him respirator so his heart didn't stop at night. Other than that, it would just be left up to time. Basically, they would be sending him home to die. And that's exactly what happened.